How to Achieve a Continuous Increase in Public Transport Ridership?: A Case Study of Braunschweig and Tampere

Abstract

This manuscript is based on cooperation between the universities in Tampere, Finland, and Braunschweig, Germany. One of the main goals of the two institutes involved in research for public transport is a continuous increase in ridership. Therefore, the aim of this study is to (1) investigate the level of service attributes of public transport in Tampere and Braunschweig and evaluate their current state and (2) give advice to each city to further increase the ridership. At the beginning, the individual attributes and indicators for comparing public transport in both cities are presented and combined with theses from the literature. The attributes are divided into four chapters: “Level of Service”, “Pricing”, “Information and Marketing” and “Quality of travel”. In the following, the individual indicators, such as the travel speed (Level of Service) or information at stop (Information and Marketing) of the two study areas, are analysed and evaluated. Additionally, the public transport system in both investigated cities is expanded with new a tramway system (Tampere) or new tramway expansions (Braunschweig), which gives a lot of opportunities for improving the attractiveness of public transport.